I had this discussion over lunch today. Chris B’s argument was, “The people who care about this stuff wouldn’t eat at McD’s anyway.” My response was that I grew up eating there, and until very recently I considered it a perfectly reasonable to get some fries there.

You know how it goes: you’re in a strange place (perhaps the middle of nowhere), and your choices are starvation, the Mobil (shudder), and fries from McDonalds. Until the beef fat debacle (and Fast Food Nation, and the trans fat problem, and the oh for crying out loud), the fries were a reasonable option. Now, not so much.

I guess my poorly executed point is that for some people, it’s not so much a choice of McD’s v. someplace else, but rather what one might choose at McD’s. Messed up? Yes. Happens to lots of people anyway? Absolutely.

I think my original point still stands since 1) I’m talking about People With Food Allergies Who Should Know Better — do you *ever* see me in a seafood restaurant?!? — and 2) it was mostly sarcastic anyway. I mean, people really should not eat at McD’s. Will they do so anyway? Of course. I mean, we really shouldn’t have made nuclear bombs, either. We just keep doing it anyway. Would I, personally, starve rather than eat there? Um, yeah. Have I ever had that choice presented to me? You betcha. I starved. Some fates are worse than death.

Should McD’s have to disclose its ingredients. Yeah; see “we’ll do it anyway” point above.